StoneSoup

Well, at age 58, I rarely come across anything that raises my eyebrows in amazement, but - the string of photos at http://www.trueactivist.com/46-incredible-photos-you-may-not-have-seen-before/ is an exception. Here are just a couple: Yes, you seven year old son IS a demon from hell: Here's a photo of what the skull of every child loos like before losing any baby teeth (not for the squeamish - it will haunt your nightmares): http://i.imgur.com/eHPhbsD.jpg Here is what elemental bismuth looks like: Cheers. SS

The very best retaliation: http://hotair.com/archives/2015/01/08/charlie-hebdo-survivors-former-contributors-to-publish-edition-next-week/

I ate at El Gaucho three or four times during their first year. Every meal was OUTSTANDING - rivaling the best I have had anywhere. But - the prices were dear indeed. I never encountered a single Thai server. Art that time, servers were from Slovak Repuiblic, Philippines, Vietnam, Nepal, and a couple of other places - and they delivered five star service. I have not been back in the past 18 months or so - it is just too expensive for my tastes. But - I haven't a bad word to say about what they delivered. Cheers! SS

Banksy had an interesting take on the matter:

It is "Year of the Sheep". HNY! SS

'Sorry to hear of the loss. I have a Bangkaew dog (well, about 90%, anyway) that just hit 10 years old this week. He is already starting to fade. I have always taken him out walking in our gated community late at night, usually around midnight - so that I could let him run around free without him bothering anyone. It never ceases to amaze me how enthusiastically excited he has gotten each and every night for ten years, as soon as I step out into the gated carport where he hangs out - he knows that he's going for a walk, and every time he acts like he hasn't been walked in five years - and just starts jumping and yipping ecstatically. So many nights I've returned home half pickled - and would just love to crash out and sleep - but I just couldn't deprive this mutt of his main joy of every day. Pouring rain - no matter. He just doesn't like close lightning/thunder. KS - you should get a new dog - both for you, and for him/her. Dogs need their people, to be complete..

That was a good one. Here is my favorite rendition rendition of a Christmas song - a capella:

This same scenario has played out all over the world, in all cultures, for thousands of years, and every male adult human has memories of either being bullied, or being the bully, or seeing some other big, nasty guy bullying some smaller, gentler guy. You aren't going to want to hear this, but - the only time tested way for the guy being bullied to extract himself from the clutches of the bully is to learn how to fight. It is a cruel, nasty world out there, and to survive reliably, you have to be able to defend yourself. A small, gentle kid doesn't have to become a good enough fighter to beat the big bully - he just needs to transform himself into a tougher target - so that the bullies go pick on easier targets. Otherwise, another way is to simply stand up and take a beating once - because bullies don't take a lot of pleasure in tormenting someone who doesn't react pitifully enough. Variations on this are for him to join a sports team, and really try to contribute - and build camaraderie with teammates - because teammates will normally stick up for each other. Or - learn to run like the wind - away from confrontations.. One soft, gentle boy - by himself - is simply a target, waiting to be tormented. It's not fair, it's not good - but that is life. He has to join a group, or harden up - or simply endure humiliation and abuse. You are thinking in terms of one particular bully, at one particular location. But - it never ends. Every boy needs to learn how to stick up for himself. Otherwise, natural selection will tend to remove him from the gene pool. It is normally a father's role to try to instill necessary survival skills into his sons' characters. Lack of a father makes it a lot tougher. Good luck. SS

For Joe Cocker, there is a natural farewell song:

That was a brilliant bit. "Then the rednecks arrived ....." "I do believe that - in parts of America - people have begun mating with vegetables...."

Note than on each country page, you can select a date for data - going back as far as 1950, and forward as far as 2100. There are some interesting things that happen when you look ahead, such as: Nigeria displaces USA as the third most populous country. Thailand's population declines over the next 30 years. I have no ability to judge the accuracy of this data.

There is a lot of underlying significance in the difference between these charts: Thailand http://populationpyr.../thailand/2015/ Philippines http://populationpyr...ilippines/2015/ Indonesia http://populationpyr...indonesia/2015/ Malaysia http://populationpyr.../malaysia/2015/ Japan http://populationpyr...net/japan/2015/ Korea http://populationpyr...-of-korea/2015/ NIgeria http://populationpyr...t/nigeria/2015/ India http://populationpyr...t/india/2015/ China http://populationpyr...net/china/2015/ Russia http://populationpyr...ederation/2015/ Israel: http://populationpyr...et/israel/2015/ Australia http://populationpyr...australia/2015/ USA http://populationpyr...f-america/2015/ UK http://populationpyr...d-kingdom/2015/ Canada http://populationpyr...et/canada/2015/ Palestine http://populationpyr...palestine/2015/ For an odd one, check out Saudi Arabia: http://populationpyr...di-arabia/2015/ and the, for a REALLY odd ones, see Qatar: http://populationpyr...t/qatar/2015/ and Oman: http://populationpyr....net/oman/2015/ Hong Kong is interesting: http://populationpyramid.net/hong-kong-sar-china/2015/ Compare Cambodia and Cuba http://populationpyr.../cambodia/2015/ http://populationpyr....net/cuba/2015/

Here is my favorite rendition of any Christmas song. It is completely acapella. It has everything - one black guy, one hot Hispanic Asian chick (Christie Maldonado), two gay guys, and they perform spectacularly. http://youtu.be/qJ_MGWio-vc

All the Australian news announcers are tripping over themselves to emphasize that this event had nothing to do with "real Islam" - they are just having a bit of trouble explaining how it was that terrified hostages were being forced to display against the window THE SINGLE MOST FUNDAMENTAL tenet of Islam. I am absolutely sick of all the apologists for the pestilence that is Islam. "Nothing can be done - there are 1.6 billion of them". OK - well - here is my idea: start killing them, one at a time. It will take a long time to eradicate them all - but the time will pass anyway. 'Might as well get started. Islam is sick and perverted to its core. It is intolerant and violent - not at the edges - but at its very core. Australia should start rounding up every camel-shagger with even a 10% profile similarity to this shithead, and lock them up, awaiting deportation back to whatever hellhole they or their parents, or their great grandparents came from. SS

I just hope that there is a Australian SAS team getting a good eight hours of sleep this afternoon and evening, so that they can come on and take the night shift, and perhaps play "sandman" for a sleepy terrorist scumbag, about 4:00 am tomorrow morning.

And normal westerners probably paid to rebuild that place after the tsunami. It looks beautiful. If they just get rid of the Muslim extremist pigs, it might even be nice place to visit.

Human registration. Registration ----> "Regis" ---------> King ------------> Property of the King Any time you "register" anything - a car, a weapon, a dog, a television set, a home - you are effectively giving it to the government, who then allows you to care for it and maintain it for them - until such time as they see fit to take it away from you. SS

Military hazing of new recruits - evidently Thai Army of Marines.

I dunno - looking at Google's stock price chart, I know a lot of other companies that would love be "staring into (such an) abyss":

http://thairapist.net/www.thairapist.net/Welcome.html

Hey Cav - 'Too many Bloody Mary's for breakfast?? The correct title is "Orange Is the New Black" Cheers! SS

I think that you will find that there will be no election in Thailand until after a certain succession situation is completely sorted. That may happen in a month, or in another ten years - there is no way to tell. Cheers! SS

I remember once reading about an air traffic controllers strike in Portugal. The head of government simply announced "Effective tomorrow morning, all air traffic controllers are conscripted into the army. If you don't show up for work, the Military Police will be looking for you. If apprehended, you will face a summary trial, and you will then be executed by sundown." The strike was over immediately. Tough love. Cheers! SS

Once upon a time, I had a dream (nightmare?). I was on Jeopardy, and Alex asked me to pick a square, and I said: "Alex, I'll take "Thai Expat Wisdom" for $100", and the answer displayed was: "The way that you can end up with a small fortune in Thailand" and..... I was utterly unable to come up with an appropriate question. It was terrifying ............ SS